Timothy Penny: “I would begin by responding that if we cannot be willing soldiers in the President's effort to cut less important…”

“I would begin by responding that if we cannot be willing soldiers in the President's effort to cut less important programs to make room for emerging priorities, then we are not going to fare very well at any other level, whether it is within your committee in dealing with fusion research, in trying to reallocate that to a more beneficial purpose, or whether it is within the Agriculture Committee as we attempt to, perhaps, modify our price support program, or our foreign credit programs, in deference to a smarter way of investing those dollars in our rural economy, perhaps other policies or programs that have more to do with job creation and growth than the expenditures that are now a part of our farm policy. I would say that if the President cannot succeed in winning from Congress the cuts that he has requested, there is precious little hope that we can take this a step forward and approach this issue in the committees of Congress on that same basis. I share with you enthusiasm for the report of the Progressive Policy Institute in which they have recommended a cut-and-invest strategy, where they have a long list, several hundred programs, as well as some tax breaks, some questionable tax breaks, which they would cancel in favor of an investment strategy.”